I Solemnly Swear
by yourLastLove
Summary: Harry is shocked at Snape's strange behavior when he hunts inside the Malfoy Manor in search for a horcrux. All is quickly revealed though as to why this particular death eater, is not what he appears to be. Bad summary. shhh... DISCLAIMER


Harry's wand was nearly twelve feet away from him, and there he was, trapped between a wall and a wizard with his wand pointed right at him.

"You shouldn't be here," Snape growled, arm tensing and knuckles turning white around his grip on the old wand.

"Neither should you!" Harry retorted loudly.

"Shut up! You fool, they'll hear you!"

Harry was seeing red as he lunged forward to grab his ex professor's wand. They both mumbled their own spell when suddenly, everything around them changed.

Snape was suddenly much younger, dark robes swirled around him, sleeves raised so that his dark mark was showing all of its deathly black glory.

"You're not supposed to be here!" Snape glowered again, though this time, he was speaking to a woman. A woman that Harry could recognise anywhere.

"Severus, please," she begged, standing in front of a crib, a small baby sat in it, crying it's eyes out.

"You. Shouldn't. Be. Here." He said, though his voice was more desperate than it was murderous, though anger still shone brightly in his beady eyes. "How could you change your secret keeper, Lily, how could you?" His voice was shrill, fear bubbling across the surface.

"We thought it was best, Sirius would have been so obvious... They would have found him! Tortured him! Please, Severus, you must understand! We had no other choice!"

"You could have used me!" The man said, greasy black hair sticking to his face, covered in nervous sweat. "If you were afraid, Lily, you could have used me!"

The woman seemed to crumple before him, falling onto the floor on her knees, and crying into her hands.

Snape didn't calm in the slightest as he closed the distance between them and dropped to the floor beside her, pulling her into him. "How could you trust _him_ over _me?_" He begged for the answer that he didn't want to hear. He knew why.

"Severus, you work for _him_, you work for _Voldemort_. Who else would I turn to?"

Her sobs stopped as quickly as they had almost begun when two firm and shaking hands grabbed onto her shoulders and turned her. She was facing Snape then, and in his eyes she could see the boy she had loved so dearly when they were young. He was her best friend.

"_Me_," he cried, tears now streaming down his own face, matching hers. "You could always trust me."

"Protect him, Severus." She said quietly, eyes locking on the man in front of her. "You can save him."

"Lily, I won't let anything happen to you."

"Severus! There's no chance for me, or for James, please you have to help him." Her pleading sobs over took her and she fell back against him, clutching onto his robes for dear life. "Severus, please. You're his only hope."

Snape couldn't breathe. His everything was being ripped away from him again. "You can still escape. You can run." He mumbled through his teeth, pressing his cheek onto the top of her head and holding her tightly.

"Severus," she laughed humorously. "You know it's too late." They held onto each other tighter then, not daring to let go.

"Lily," he whispered into her hair, trying to break himself of his emotion. He couldn't come up with a plan like this, he couldn't think.

"They'll be here soon, promise me?" She looked up at him, red watery eyes illustrating her coming death. She looked so afraid...

"I will. I swear to you, with all of my heart, Lily Evans, that I will protect Harry with my life." She caught the way he used her maiden name instead of her new one. It was no big secret that her lost and troubled friend had always loved her.

She closed her eyes, letting a few more tears slip down her nose and she smiled, knowing that her son would be safe. "Thank you," she whispered.

"But first I have to try."

He stood up as fast as Lily had her eyes open, staring at him with fear. "What? What are you doing?"

"I'm going to fix this, Lily, please, try to run, I'll find you. Take the boy, don't pack anything, just run. I'll find a way."

He suddenly smashed his lips into hers, anger seething as he held his mouth against hers, passion soaring through him, making him that much more determined to fix everything. But they were running out of time.

Snape didn't hear what she said next, whether it was a cry, approval, if she told him no...

The world swirled around him and suddenly he found himself in front of his old professor. "Dumbledore, you have to help them." Cries were coming again, powerfully rocking his heart in his chest. "He's coming, he's going to kill her, Dumbledore, please, what can I do? Help," Snape had fallen again to his knees, and slowly the old wizard with the long silver beard knelt down beside him.

"I've tried everything, Severus," he said, his voice heavy and gruff.

"We could use a time turner," Snape protested.

"I've tried, I've tried the time turner, I couldn't change a thing."

"Let me try!" Snape grabbed the old man by the front of his robes and shook once, his own body shaking with anger, looming despair threatening to take over.

"Severus," Dumbledore said softly, pulling the hands away from him. At that moment, Severus was the boy Dumbledore once knew. Afraid and innocent, unsure of who he was or what he could become. He could already see the loss in his eyes, he knew they had no chance.

"What about a portkey, the child can't apparate but surely a portkey-"

"Would also kill him, you know Lily won't leave young Harry."

Severus' face broke, there had to be something... New tears streamed down his face. "Please, sir, help them..."

He didn't hear what the older man was saying then, he just knew he had to do something. He couldn't fight all the death eaters off, but he could give Lily a fighting chance to escape. Suddenly he was back in the Potter house, wand ready. He was in Harry's room, and the baby was still crying. He picked the small child up out of the crib and held him, silently pleading that he would stop crying for sake of giving them away. He turned around, looking for Lily when he almost tripped over something on the floor.

He looked down, prepared to step around... no... Lily... Screams of anguish hurdled through the air, echoing across the halls and rooms of the house, waking the neighbours. "God! No!" It was needless to say that Snape did not, and now never would, believe in a God, but there in his moment of pure desperation and heartbreak, he cried out to anyone that would hear him. "Lily!" He screamed again, grabbing onto her with one hand and pulling her towards him. Harry continued to cry in Snape's arms, and Snape suddenly caught sight of the new burning cut that had appeared on the boy's forehead.

Someone was coming, but who...

"Severus," Dumbledore said, appearing in front of him, at the door of the room. "They can't find you here. They won't believe even myself if they see you here. You'll be locked up."

"I can't-" he gasped from the floor. "I can't leave her."

"They're gone, Severus, give the boy to me, you must run."

"No!" Snape shouted, sharp voice defensive and frail.

Dumbledore took the still crying infant from the broken man, and mumbled a few words, sending Snape on his way.

The scene changed again as Snape was finally able to throw Harry off of him, knocking both of them to the ground in opposite directions. They sat, watching each other, Snape angrily, and Harry with confusion and new light floating around him.

Footsteps could be heard from the hallway and they both got up quickly. "Go!" Snape hissed, throwing a small object towards Harry, which he caught reflexively. Harry was suddenly swooshed away by the small portkey, leaving Snape alone in the small room. Holding his hand out for Harry's wand, it flew towards him and he stuffed it inside his cloak.

"Where is he?" A voice demanded from the doorway. "Potter's here, where is he?"

"It's the invisibility cloak, find him!" Snape commanded, wand still drawn and pointed into empty air.


End file.
